Biznes Fakty
Szymon Hołownia's new idea. „Highly unsuccessful”
Szymon Hołownia, the Speaker of the Sejm and head of Poland 2050, advocates for the establishment of an extra tax on excessive bank profits. The President of the Polish Bank Association described this proposal as „extremely misguided”.
On Friday, the Sejm Speaker declared that a meeting will take place on Monday, where Prime Minister Donald Tusk will provide coalition partners with a draft of his exposé. Hołownia mentioned that one of the initiatives that could demonstrate to the public that the government is aligned with their interests is the introduction of what is known as a windfall tax, or a tax on surplus profits. – Banks are already profiting immensely from these interest rates and margins – remarked the Sejm Speaker.
Banks’ profits for 2024 reached PLN 42 billion, reflecting a rise of 51.9 percent compared to the figures from 2023.
The notion „we consider to be highly inappropriate”
The president of the Polish Bank Association, Tadeusz Białek, reacted to Hołownia’s remarks in a statement sent to PAP. – We regard the suggestion of an additional tax on excessive bank profits as highly inappropriate – stated the head of the ZBP.
– Certainly, we could impose additional taxes, but how will we genuinely finance the economy without capital? An economy cannot thrive without banks. Banks are essential to the economy’s functionality. Interest rates are decreasing, loans are becoming more affordable, and there is a growing demand from individuals for mortgages and from businesses for investment loans. Let us focus on financing the economy. It is time to move past these populist slogans that portray banks as scapegoats – Białek emphasized.
The leader of the Polish Bank Association highlighted that banks are the largest contributors to the state budget in terms of taxes – last year, they contributed PLN 13.5 billion in corporate income tax to the budget, which constitutes every fourth zloty.
„They also contribute an additional 1.5 billion in personal income tax, nearly 3.5 billion to the state budget from dividends,” stated the ZBP material. As taxpayers, banks pay personal income tax on their employees’ earnings as well as on client profits, including those from deposits.
Banks „the largest tax payer”
– The Minister of State Assets, and we must remember that the banking sector is over 50 percent controlled directly or indirectly by the State Treasury, clearly asserts that imposing a tax on excess profits on banks is a poor idea – commented the president of the Polish Bank Association.
– The Minister of Finance has directly stated that he acknowledges the significant tax contributions made by the banking sector and clearly indicates that banks are the largest taxpayers in Poland as a sector – remarked the president of the Polish Bank Association.
